Clean Run Magazine - June 2007 - 75

In Cider By Bill Gates of the disease is when the dog is healthy, but the handler is afflicted. This form can occur when the dog has been trained in another competition venue to crawl under the table. Having done everything right up until this point, the team approaches the table. The handler, confident that three days of retraining before the trial is sufficient, shouts Table! The dog, confident that this human is entering a fourth day of temporary insanity, crawls under the table. The dog emerges from under the table and looks to the handler for instruction. The handler turns back to the table and shouts again. The dog then figures this must be one of those new games where you do things twice, so he crawls under the table again. The dog looks up at the handler whose head is tilted back, with both hands plastered to her skull. This gesture, being the universal sign for madness, confirms the diagnosis. Realizing the dog is the healthy partner, the handler moves on past the table. © ANDRÉ JOLICOEUR To Table or Not to Table The agility pause table is much like your health. If you are healthy, you live life to the fullest. If you are not healthy, then life revolves around your particular ache, pain, or condition. You try different remedies, different doctors, or just avoid behaviors known to aggravate your condition. If you have no difficulty with the table, then life in the Standard ring is simple. You can focus on the usual challenges of direction and timing. If the pause table is a problem, then your world revolves around mastering the art of getting your dog on this platform. Ah, I remember the days when the pause table was not a problem for Cider and me. I looked forward to having the table present. I could work the Standard course as two separate courses, the one before the table and the one after. The pause table was an oasis—a square stable landing area free of poles to miss and bars to drop. Reaching the table was the goal for the first half of the course. More often than not, I was lagging and out of breath at the table. When Cider reached the table, I could catch up and catch my breath. No matter how far out of June 07 | Clean Run Other dogs with tabilitis use the table as a springboard. There seems to be no need to stop if a dog can really fly off one of these. And for others, it’s all about showing off. If you have ever seen a dog stack up on the table, you know what I mean. This dog will not sit or lie down: he is waiting for the judge to come check him out or perhaps he has already won the class and is waiting for the photographer. Either way, he is ready to wait it out. After all, if you really wanted him to sit, wouldn’t you just take hold of his collar and guide him into position? Instead you circle the table gesticulating. You squat, you stand, you circle some more. You raise your hand, you raise your other hand, you squat while raising your hand. Certainly you are going mad. Tabilitis—It’s Contagious! position I was for the next obstacle, at the table I would have plenty of time to set up for the second half of the course. Whether it was simply moving to the opposite side of the table or staging a lead-out, the table was a natural starting block holding Cider in check until I was ready. Before my personal participation in the agility ring, I watched others struggle with “tablitis.” I was glad then for my health and pitied those afflicted with any form of tablitis. If one can find humor in another’s misfortune, the most entertaining form And then it happened. Without warning the table became an illness. At first, I thought our table condition was a result of improper training. I had been using a 24" table at home. Since it was not an adjustable table, I left it at 24". Perhaps in a trial, Cider did not recognize the shorter 16" table and so avoided the unknown obstacle. The obvious cure was a quick circular saw tour of the table legs. Having diagnosed the problem and implemented treatment, I was sure this problem was cured. Nope. Suddenly I was the person 75

Clean Run Magazine - June 2007

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